Rep Todd Akin isn’t the only Republican Senate candidate attracting attention to himself these past few days. On Tuesday, Michael Baumgartner — the GOP candidate in Washington’s Senate race — apologized for apparently telling a reporter, via email, to “go fuck yourself.” Later, he retracted the apology, saying that the reporter “had it coming.”

Local journalist Josh Feit wrote on Publicola that Baumgartner sent him an email late Monday night after Feit had interviewed the candidate earlier the same day. The topic of the interview, Feit said, was Akin’s remarks about “legitimate rape” and abortion. During the interview, Baumgartner deemed the comment “inexcusable and stupid and ignorant,” but said “he wanted a truce in the culture wars and his campaign was about jobs and ending the war in Afghanistan.”

Then, at 10:45 p.m., Feit received an email from the candidate, which included a photo of Baumgartner with Pat Feeks, a Navy SEAL who recently died in Afghanistan. The email read:

Josh, this is Pat Feeks, a Navy SEAL killed last week in Afghanistan. Take a good look and then go fuck yourself.

Baumgartner confirmed he sent the email. “It was sent from my personal e-mail. It was a personal comment to Josh,” he said in an interview, according to the Seattle Times.